After days of testimony that included graphic descriptions of his son's death, Carl Reed found the outcome of the trial of one of two men accused of murdering Eastern Michigan University football player Demarius Reed hard to take.

"I wondered what courtroom they were sitting in,” Carl Reed said of the jurors, who earlier this week found Ed Thomas not guilty on all counts in Demarius Reed's death.

Thomas' trial was one of the few murder cases that have reached a jury in the last five years. In those six cases, juries have convicted the defendants half the time.

Since 2009, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office has charged 39 people in the homicides of 26 people. In those 39 cases, the prosecutor’s office won convictions in 26 of them, with seven cases still pending — an 81 percent conviction rate. Some of those convictions were to lesser charges.

However, high-profile cases in the last three months have ended in acquittals and, in one case, a hung jury. After only three murder trials going in front of a jury for the better part of five years, juries have returned not guilty verdicts for Terrance Parker, Allante Percy and Ed Thomas. Willie Wimberly, Terrance Parker’s co-defendant, will be retried after a jury hung on murder charges.

Those three defeats for the prosecution bring the office’s conviction rate at murder jury trials to 50 percent in the last five years. While Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie said he’s disappointed in the recent verdict in Thomas’ case, he respects the decisions of juries.

“While one of his killers will be going to prison, obviously, we are disappointed by the verdict (Monday),” Mackie wrote in an email. “It happens. In our system of justice, not guilty is one of the options for the jury, or, for that matter, the judge in a non-jury trial.”

He added, “I would not want to live in a country where being acquitted of a crime is not an option.”

Thomas, 21 of Detroit, was acquitted of all charges in the murder of Demarius Reed, a 20-year-old Chicago native who was a football player at Eastern Michigan University. Reed was shot and killed early on Oct. 18 in his apartment building at University Green apartments, 700 W. Clark Road. Kristopher Pratt pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 20-year-old Chicago native’s death.

Thomas was charged on an aiding and abetting theory, with prosecutors arguing he was just as culpable as Pratt, who actually fired the fatal shot into Reed’s chest and a second into his face. But the defense argued Thomas was not involved and that Pratt and another witness lied on the stand.

The not-guilty verdict shocked Reed’s father and officers who investigated the case.

Mackie said he was disappointed in the verdict but didn’t think it was symbolic of a bigger problem in prosecutors’ work on murder jury trials.

“An outstanding assistant prosecutor was very well prepared and did his best work, aided by some outstanding police officers who were part of a team from three different adencies who worked very hard to solve this murder,” Mackie said. “Mr. Thomas was represented by a very talented, experienced defense attorney. The jury made their decision.”

According to research by The Ann Arbor News, the outcomes of the 40 murder cases charged in Washtenaw County since 2009 break down as follows:

19 guilty or no contest pleas to murder charges.

Two pleas of guilty or no contest to lesser charges.

Three guilty verdicts at jury trials.

Two guilty verdicts at bench trials.

Three not-guilty verdicts at jury trials.

One hung jury. Wimberly's case will be retried.

Two cases of murder charges being dismissed.

Seven murder cases are still pending.

In incidents spanning January 2009 through June 2014, only two people charged with murder in Washtenaw County walked away without being convicted of any crime. Both of those individuals — Ozell Johnson and Emmanuel Hopkins — ended up testifying for the prosecution against Daniel Haywood, who ended up pleading guilty to murdering Cortez Donald.

Mackie said seeking a plea deal is made on a case-by-case basis and not a concentrated effort by the prosecutor’s office.

“Every case is evaluated on its individual basis,” he said. “(There’s) nothing unusual about the amount of pleas.”

However, three of the last four cases tried in front of Washtenaw County juries ended in not-guilty verdicts and the other resulted in a hung jury.

It’s worth noting that a bench trial for Davontah Nelson ended July 18 with Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Donald Shelton finding him guilty of murdering his infant daughter.

In the cases of Terrance Parker and Thomas, a large part of the prosecution’s case rested on the testimony of co-defendants, Avantis Parker and Kristopher Pratt, who accepted plea deals to testify.

“In many cases, our pool of available witnesses is not what we would choose,” Mackie said. “Criminals often have friends who are criminals. Respected members of the community would always be good to have as witnesses, but in the real world, we must sometimes call witnesses who are unsavory people.”

In the case of Pratt, Mackie said he didn’t regret the plea deal, which has angered some residents.

“”We could have chosen not to make a plea agreement with Kristopher Pratt,” he said. “However, there would have been no trial of Ed Thomas. There would be been no chance for justice.”

For his part, Carl Reed, Demarius Reed’s father, isn’t upset about Pratt’s deal, which First Assistant Public Defender Lorne Brown — who represented Thomas at trial — called “the deal of a lifetime.” Pratt pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and will receive a prison sentence of 18 to 30 years.

“Without Kristopher Pratt’s testimony, it would have been really hard to convict Thomas,” Carl Reed said. “I wanted him (convicted as well).”

In the next few months, at lest three murder suspects will face jury trials in Washtenaw County.

Stanley Harrison, accused of killing 23-year-old Superior Township resident Shandar Turner, is scheduled to stand trial on Aug. 25. Dajeon Franklin and Joei Jordan, charged in the death of University of Michigan medical student Paul DeWolf, are scheduled to face trial in October.

The trials of Franklin and Jordan will share similarities with the trials of Terrance Parker, Wimberly and Thomas, in that a co-defendant has already taken a deal and will testify against them.

Shaquille Jones, who admitted to being with Franklin and Jordan on the night DeWolf was killed, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges and will testify against his co-defendants.

While juries have recently not sided with the prosecution when a suspect takes a deal and testifies against his co-defendants, Mackie said it’s a practice that will continue.

“We do not ask people to like the witnesses, but rather, to evaluate their testimony in light of all the evidence in the case,” he said.

Mackie added that, in light of all the cases the prosecutors' office pursues, murder cases are not the only way to judge his attorneys.

“I am concerned about every one of the thousands of cases that we have each year, including cases resulting in conviction,” he said, “which constitute the vast majority of the cases we charge. Every case, regardless of crime, is the most important case to those involved and in this office we are always mindful of that fact.”

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.